Bush vows to tighten embargo against Cuba

? Hoping to make amends with a key political constituency, President Bush said Friday the United States would tighten enforcement of its embargo on Cuba and provide a haven to more fleeing Cubans while planning for the day when Fidel Castro’s rule comes to an end.

“Clearly, the Castro regime will not change by its own choice. But Cuba must change,” Bush told an invited audience of Cuban exiles, anti-Castro groups and others during a Rose Garden ceremony.

Bush said the United States also would step up enforcement of existing restrictions against the communist government, such as a ban on tourism by Americans, and increased inspections of people and shipments going to and from Cuba.

Bush’s announcement came as he is gearing up for his re-election bid next year. Some of Castro’s most ardent Cuban-American opponents — who say Bush should have done more to foster democratic change in Cuba — also represent a vital voting bloc in Florida, a vote-rich swing state that Bush has visited frequently since taking office in 2001.

Bush said he had directed Secretary of State Colin Powell and Housing Secretary Mel Martinez to lead a commission that will develop a plan to help Cuba move to democracy whenever Castro, who has ruled Cuba since 1959, leaves power.